


i'm afraid of who we are

by cantfoolajoker (lichmutual)



Series: hauntober 2020 prompts [3]
Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Also features adopted brothers Goro and Akira, Ficlet, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Gen, Halloween, M/M, Minor Injuries, ambiguous canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 2,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27237682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lichmutual/pseuds/cantfoolajoker
Summary: A collection of ficlets related to Halloween for the Hauntober prompts, filled with miscellaneous thought processes.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Labrys, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke & Kuma | Teddie, Hanamura Yosuke & Labrys, Hanamura Yosuke & Tatsumi Kanji, Hanamura Yosuke/Konishi Naoki
Series: hauntober 2020 prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988599
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. directory

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted [here](https://tumblr.com/https://cantfoolajoker.tumblr.com/tagged/%2A-hauntober-prompts-2020/chrono) on my tumblr for 31 days of halloween ficlets. this compilation is all the miscellaneous prompts that didn't fit into either of the previous compilations.
> 
> the first "chapter" will be the directory for those who want to skip to the ones they want to read!

**I. two. leaves** — _hanamura yosuke & teddie_

**II. three. tea** — _akechi goro & kurusu akira_

**III. eight. lantern** — _hanamura yosuke & labrys_

**IV. ten. forest** — _hanamura yosuke/konishi naoki_

**V. fifteen. raven** — _akechi goro & labrys_

**VI. seventeen. owl** — _hanamura yosuke_ & _tatsumi kanji_

**VII. twenty four. tarot** — _hanamura yosuke & labrys_

**VIII. twenty eight. cryptid** — _konishi naoki/hanamura yosuke_


	2. leaves

**two. leaves** — _hanamura yosuke & teddie_

“Ted, can you help with sweeping?” Yosuke asks, frowning as he places a hand on his waist and leans his weight against the broom.

Teddie stops mid-leaf throwing, turning around from where he’s standing in the small leaf pile that has been built up from an hour of sweeping outside Junes. Meeting Yosuke’s eyes, he slowly lifts a leaf up to his mouth.

“Teddie — _don’t_ eat the leaf.”

“But why not?” Teddie asks, frowning as he keeps the leaf near his mouth.

“One, it’s gross. Two, it’s not edible.”

“Don’t squirrels eat them all the time?”

“ _Teddie._ ”

Teddie lowers the leaf with a disappointed expression, pausing. He does try to take a quick nibble, but he’s met with a broom knocking into the middle of the leaves. “Sweep,” Yosuke tells him, giving him a hard stare.

Teddie pauses and admits his defeat, dropping the leaf in hand and going to grab his own broom to help with sweeping.


	3. tea

**three. tea** — _akechi goro & kurusu akira_

“Hey Goro?” Akira asks, turning away from the sink as he cleans a glass in his hands.

“Hey Akira?” Goro responds, matching the same tone Akira had; something that was between accusatory and looking for an answer.

“Why do you drink shitty tea?”

“I drink it because it’s refreshing and good for you,” Goro responds, leaning against LeBlanc’s countertop. He wasn’t losing one of their sibling debates.

“Why not drink coffee? That’s pretty refreshing.”

“I think you need a dictionary on what the definition of refreshing is. Oh wait, you can’t read anyway.”

Akira falters, snorting. “Aren’t you a walking dictionary? Can’t you tell me what it is?”

“Ah, yes. Refreshing. It’s an adjective. It means something that refreshes you.”

“Aren’t you not allowed to use the word of whatever you’re defining in the definition?”

“How do you know that if you can’t read?”

“I can _read_ ,” Akira says, setting the glass he was cleaning down. 

“What was the last thing you read?” Goro pauses before adding on, “That wasn’t homework.”

Akira hums thoughtfully, twirling a strand of hair around his index finger. “I think I read an article like, last night.”

“You think?” 

“I don’t remember things. That’s for people like you.”

“I think all that shitty coffee dried your brain up.”

“Oh yeah? Well.” Akira stops talking and stands there, and Goro could tell he’d won the argument. “You know what? I can’t convince wrong people. It’s too hard.”

Goro lets out his own snort. “Learn how to pick your fights.”

He hears footsteps and the thwap of a dish rag against his back. He turns and retaliates just in time to smack Akira on the shoulder as he’s walking by. When Akira turns around, the bell at the front of the cafe goes off.

“I hope you two have been behaving,” Sojiro comments, pulling off his hat casually.

The two look to each other and then at their caretaker, giving him a forced smile. “Oh, we have,” Goro responds with a perfect straight tone.


	4. lantern

**eight. lantern** — _hanamura yosuke & labrys_

“Ooooo, Yosuke-kun, what’s all this?”

“This is the Halloween section,” Yosuke explains as he watches Labrys’ eyes shine with intense excitement. She’s standing in the middle of the spooky-themed orange and purple section of the department store. “We set it up a few days before the month started.”

“What’s Halloween?” Labrys asks, turning to look at him and tilt her head.

“It’s a holiday where people dress up for a night and go hang out. It’s something from the west.” He moves to show her the costumes.

Labrys is intrigued, but she’s showing more interest in the decorations than the themed foods or the costumes. “What are all these orange things?” she asks, picking up a plastic jack-o-lantern.

“Those are fake pumpkins. People usually use them to decorate for Halloween,” Yosuke tells her as he picks up one for him to hold. He pulls the top off and reaches inside, and a little light turns on that illuminates the face on the front. “These ones are lanterns so people can see at night.”

The same excitement from earlier returns, and Labrys copies his movements quickly in order to turn the light on for her’s. She stares into its face, completely lost in it and her excitement.

Yosuke pauses before turning the light off and setting his back on the shelf. “I’ll buy it for you, Labrys-chan.” He gives her a fond smile.

“R — Really?” Labrys is pulled from her entranced state with a look of shock.

“Yeah. You seem to really like it.”

Labrys grins and moves to pull Yosuke into a one-armed hug, but her strength makes more of a tight squeeze that causes him to lose his breath. “Oh, thank you! You’re the best!”


	5. forest

**ten. forest** — _hanamura yosuke/konishi naoki_

“I told you that you were going to fall,” Naoki sighs, offering a hand to Yosuke to help him up from the base of the tree.

“C’mon — it at least made you smile, didn’t it?” Yosuke counters, getting to his feet and flinching at the pressure on his left foot.

Naoki gives him a look. “I’m not smiling now,” he says, before looking down upon noticing Yosuke shifting his weight. “Oh god — you sprained your ankle, didn’t you?”

“No…..?”

“Don’t lie to me, asshole, I can _see_ it swelling.”

“Nothin’ too bad,” Yosuke responds and shrugs nonchalantly. He takes a step forward and flinches, wobbling before Naoki gives him support under his arm.

“What am I going to do with you,” Naoki sighs, wrapping an arm around his waist in turn. 

“You’re gonna take me back to town…?” Yosuke guesses, and Naoki looks away, but he’s unable to hide the fond snort that follows.

“What If I just leave you here with your phone so you can call for help?”

“Oh, you wouldn’t do that.”

Naoki rolls his eyes with a smile and starts guiding Yosuke along. “We gotta go so you can get off your feet and ice that, come on.”


	6. raven

**fifteen. raven** — _akechi goro & labrys_

“Goro, what’s the difference between ravens and crows?”

Goro pauses, mid tea pouring as his mind blanks at an answer. Labrys panics and waves her hands. “You’re — you’re overfillin’ the cup — !”

He snaps out of it fast enough to pull the pitcher away, staring down an almost filled cup that was going to be a pain in the ass to move now.

“Thanks,” Goro tells Labrys airily, setting the pitcher aside and attempting to find a way to drink from the cup without spilling.

He doesn’t realize her eyes are focused on him until he’s able to successfully sip the liquid line down to a reasonable amount, carefully holding the cup in his hands. “I’m sorry — what did you ask again?”

“I _asked_ what’s the difference between ravens and crows!” 

Goro chuckles. “What prompted this?”

“Well, ain’t your nickname Crow? And I saw some ravens earlier — aren’t they the same thing?”

“Not exactly,” Goro starts, setting the cup down carefully and leaning against the table in LeBlanc. “They’re from the same family, but they’re plenty different.”

“Like…. How?”

“Ravens are bigger in size and usually form smaller groups of about one or two birds,” he explains, using his hands to talk in a way that catches Labrys’ eyes and makes them light up with curiosity. “Crows are smaller and form larger groups in numbers.”

“Oh.” Labrys tilts her head. “What else is there abouttem?”

“They’re both very highly intelligent bird species — “

“Oh! Is that why your nickname’s Crow?”

Goro struggles to keep a poker face in check. “....Anyway, they’re also considered bad luck in many cultures.”

“Bad luck how?”

He makes a hand motion. “Usually, seeing one is considered enough to be an omen of bad luck.”

Labrys nods her head slowly, calculating and thoughtful as she pieces together this new information. “That can’t be right.”

“What do you mean?” Goro asks her before taking a sip.

“You’re real lucky! You’re like a good luck charm!”

Goro chokes on the tea. 

“Oh c’mon — you know what I mean, don’tcha?”

“....I don’t believe I do.”

“Well, whenever we hang out neither of us mess anything up!”

_I think that’s just called being observant of each other._

Labrys pouts, almost as if she senses Goro’s lack of belief in her words. “Look! I met you! I consider that enough to be a good luck charm!” She smiles after, a very classic free-spirited Labrys smile.

Goro turns away so she can’t see his careful poker face falling, deciding it was time to put the pitcher away. “Right. Right.”

He considers her words, and ultimately decides maybe she was the lucky charm in their relationship if it meant he was lucky enough to be around her.


	7. owl

**seventeen. owl** — _hanamura yosuke_ & _tatsumi kanji_

“Why’re you sellin’ this stuff anyway?” Kanji questions, picking up the different Halloween props and examining them closely.

“I told you, Kanji, we sell all sorts of stuff,” Yosuke reminds him, setting a box down and beginning to reshelve candy from it. “People have to go somewhere to buy this stuff.”

Kanji wanders down one of the aisles and pauses. “What the — !”

He’s staring down a wall of skeletons!

“Oh, those are props,” Yosuke tells him, looking over at his outburst. “They’re all made of plastic.”

Kanji is still alarmed, but he moves to pick up some of them to examine as he had been earlier.

“Why’s this owl look so messed up?”

“I don’t know, probably a manufacturer mistake?”

“Uh, senpai? They all look messed up.”

Yosuke pauses from where he’s working, and he moves over to join him. “Oh. Oh, that’s — freaky.”

“Why’s the spider have a skeleton…?”

“I’m walking away now.”


	8. tarot

**twenty four. tarot** — _hanamura yosuke & labrys_

“Whatcha got there, Labrys?”

Labrys perks up from one of Junes’ outdoor tables, shuffling a deck of cards in her hands. “I was just playin’ with these tarot cards Aigis got me!”

Yosuke pulls out one of the chairs and turns it around, seating himself and resting against his arms over the back of the chair. “Oh yeah?” he asks, nodding his head to her hands.

Labrys showcases the cards to him, featuring what appeared to be Greek-inspired cards depicting different mythological characters and stories. “I can do a reading for you if ya want! I’ve been practicing my shuffling!” she says proudly, going through the movements afterward.

Yosuke raises an eyebrow. “Oh?” After a pause, he shrugs. “Sure, why not. I’m on break right now.”

Labrys hums, beginning to shuffle the cards. “Apparently you just stop when it feels right,” she explains. After a few beats of silence, she stops shuffling and pulls a card from the top of the deck.

“Magician!” she announces, setting the card down on the table.

“Oh? What’s that mean?”

“Hm…” Labrys pauses. After a few beats, she responds, “It means you gotta utilize your full potential if you wanna succeed! Determined, skillful, resourceful…. “ Another pause. “Yeah, that about covers it,” she says, nodding her head and switching off her memory mode.

Yosuke hums, letting it sink in.

“I think it fits you, ya know.”

He blushes, surprised. “You do?”

“Yeah! You’re like, super cool, and can do lots of cool things!” Labrys responds cheerily. “You could probably stop bein’ so harsh on yourself.”

Yosuke is taken aback, but he finally dips his head. “Uh, thanks Labrys.”


	9. cryptid

**twenty eight. cryptid** — _konishi naoki/hanamura yosuke_

“Are…. are you supposed to be a werewolf?”

Yosuke shakes his head, pulling off the fuzzy paw gloves he was wearing. “Labrys wanted to match,” he reasons, and Naoki slowly nods his head, studying him.

“Where’s your costume anyway?” Yosuke asks, handing the gloves over to Naoki.

Naoki shrugs. “Don’t have one.” 

“You really don’t have one?”

“I just said so,” he says, pulling the gloves on. “Oh, wow. These are warm.”

“Yeah, I have just been wearing them for a while.”

Naoki swats at him with a fuzzy paw, though the absurdity of it makes the both of them laugh.

“Hey, senpai?”

“Mhmmm?”

There’s a pause, a beat of a moment, and then Naoki brings up one of the paws curled at chin level and tilts his head. “You know, like, nya?” He had already broken character to laugh and grin, enjoying himself, and Yosuke can’t help but follow suit in reaction. It was hard not to when Naoki having fun was as rare as any cryptid.


End file.
